History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 41

Author: Archibald Shaw
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1123

USA > Indiana > Dearborn County > History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 41

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DEARBORN COUNTY, INDIANA.

total coin and certificates. $2.356.00 : legal-tender notes. $600.00; redemption fund with United States Treasurer, five per cent. circulation. $1.250.00: total, $185.940.55.

Liabilities-Capital stock paid in, $25,000.00; surplus fund, $4,100.00; undivided profits, less expenses and taxes paid, $1,416.31 ; circulating notes, $25.000.00 : individual deposits subject to check, $45,284.17; time certificates of deposit, $85,140.77 ; total, $185,940.55.

The present officers are W. J. Gray, president; Henry Schulte, vice-pres- ident ; Jesse J. Booster, cashier; Margaret Smith, assistant cashier. Directors : William J. Gray, Henry Schulte, F. W. Kamman, J. W. Woods, William Ohlmansiek, Henry Marlman, Louis Hollforth, Henry Vinup and J. H. Fisse.

DILLSBORO STATE BANK.

The Dillsboro State Bank was organized on the 14th of October. 1901, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and the following officers: Henry Bulthaup, president; Lawrence L. Fleming, vice-president; Clarence B. Wilson, cashier, and Newton Jackson, George C. Miller, Charles M. Bowers, Henry Bulthaup, Louis H. Booster, Charles A. Opp and George H. Eller- brook, directors. This bank has been very successful from its beginning. It secured new property and is prepared to do business with all the modern equip- ment. A statement of the bank made on June 23, 1915, shows the prosperous condition of the institution :

Resources-Loans and discounts, $120,784.01; overdrafts. $113.65: United States bonds, $500.00; other bonds and securities, $22,145.37; bank- ing house, $6,000.00; due from banks and bankers, $16,066.82; cash on hand. $8,171.79; cash items, $40.20; current expenses, $1,501.18; interest paid, $2,212.39; total, $177,535.41.

Liabilities-Capital stock paid in, $25,000.00; surplus fund. $11.000.00; undivided profits, $1,669.57; exchange, discounts and interest, $5.726.39; de- mand deposits, $48,613.98; demand certificates, $85,525.47; total, $177,- 535-41.

The present officers are Henry Bulthaup, president; John F. Althoff, vice-president; Charles F. Gausman, cashier; Grace Ginter, assistant cashier.

MOORES HILL STATE BANK.

The Moores Hill State Bank was organized in September, 1905, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and the following officers: J. M. Martin, president ; Hanson D. Moore, vice-president; C. E. Faulkner,

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cashier. In July, 1906, Mr. Faulkner resigned as cashier and was succeeded by C. M. Shockley. The bank has filled a long-felt want in the college and business community of Moores Hill and vicinity, and has had a steady growth since its organization. Through its very conservative management it has never lost a dollar on loans or securities, and consequently has the confidence of the entire community. Although only in existence for the past ten years, the following statement of its assets and liabilities, on June 23, 1915, will show its growth and prosperity :

Resources-Loans and discounts, $126,081.34; overdrafts, $243.37; other bonds and securities, $8,420.25; furniture and fixtures, $1,800.00; duc from banks and trust companies, $10,214.05; cash on hand, $6,809.11 ; cur- rent expenses, $862.46; taxes paid, $377.20; total, $154,807.78.

Liabilities-Capital stock paid in, $25,000.00; surplus fund, $4.400.00; exchange, discounts, etc., $3,972.24; demand deposits, $75,053.34; demand certificates, $46,382.20; total, $154,807.78.

The present officers are, J. M. Martin, president; H. D. Moore, vice-pres- ident; C. M. Shockley, cashier; Jessie Brown, assistant cashier. Directors: J. W. French, C. M. Bowers. C. E. Shockley, O. E. Canfield, C. L. Olcott, J. M. Martin and James Murdock.

DEARBORN COUNTY LOAN AND BUILDING ASSOCIATION.

The Dearborn County Loan and Building Association was incorporated on the 21st day of April, 1891, with a capital stock of one million dollars, and the following officers: Henry Hodell, president; Robert Killough, vice-pres- ident; Valentine W. Huber, secretary; William H. O'Brien, treasurer. Direc- tors: W. S. Fagaly, Samuel D. McElfresh, Lewis D. Daniel, A. J. Hassmer. In 1909 the capital stock was increased to one million five hundred thousand dollars, with five thousand shares. The annual statement, made on Decem- ber 31, 1914, was as follows:

Assets-Cash on hands December 31, 1914, $2,694.74; loans on mort- gage security, $206,626.00; loans on stock or pass book security, $1,736.44; real estate, actual value, $2,960.00; due for insurance and taxes, $330.20; total, $214,347.39.

Liabilities-Dues and dividends on running stock, $202,239.75; fund for contingent losses, $7,000.00; undivided profits, $5,107.63 ; total, $214.347.30.

The directors and officers are elected annually, and at present are as fol- low: Henry Hodell, president; Harry H. Sims, secretary; W. H. O'Brien,

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treasurer. Directors : C. W. Decker, William S. Fagaly, E. P. Hayes, Henry Hodell, William F. Ritzmann, Louis Rodenberg, John Seekatz, H. H. Sims, Cornelius O'Brien. Thomas S. Cravens, attorney.

GERMAN PERPETUAL BUILDING ASSOCIATION.

The German Perpetual Building Association of Lawrenceburg was incor- porated on .August 9, 1894, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars. The officers who were first elected were C. Lommel, president; G. A. Kienle, vice-president; Julius Schneider, secretary; Philip C. Braun, treasurer. Di- rectors : Frederick Lleinhans, Herman Hoefer, George Kunz, John Probst. Frank J. Henn, Ernest Eberhart and Samuel H. Collins. The association has continued to conduct business successfully from the date of their organization. The stock has been increased to one million dollars, with four thousand shares. At their last annual report the condition of the business was as follows:

Assets-Cash on hand December 31, 1914, $2,460.10; loans on mort- gage security, $165,830.00; loans on pass books, $7,665.00; real estate, $2,295.17; due for insurance and taxes, $178.11 ; total, $178,374.00.

Liabilities-Dues and dividends on running stock; $178,008.78; fund for contingent losses, $3,580.00; undivided profits, $2,785.00; total, $178.374.38.

The officers elected at their annual election the first week in January, 1915, were Peter Endress, president; George Kunz, vice-president; Orlando M. Keller, secretary ; Philip C. Braun, treasurer. Directors: John Probst, Frank J. Henn, George Kunz, E. F. Gardner, John M. Fichter, Henry A. Bobrink, Orlando M. Keller and Philip C. Braun. Thomas S. Cravens. attorney.

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

AGRICULTURE.

Dearborn county has good soil, fertile valleys and rich uplands. The valley of the Big Miami is as rich, fertile and productive as any spot in the world. The valleys of Tanner's creek, the Hogans and Laughery are un- excelled. The uplands and the hillsides are productive and yield good returns for the farmer who cultivates his ground properly. In the pioneer days much of the energy of the farmer was used in clearing off the forest. After he had succeeded, by much labor, in removing the trees and giving the sun an opportunity to warm the soil, there was much work attached to cutting the roots and breaking the soil for planting. When the crops were raised, the problem of a market confronted the husbandman. Bountiful results were obtained from their efforts at farming, but the surplus which, in a year or two, was created from their labors, was difficult to realize upon in money. Wagon roads were poor, railways unknown, and the home market was so limited that it was hardly a factor. The only market of consequence was the lower Mississippi. But as early as 1796 and up until after the purchase of Louisiana, that market was too hazardous to be considered, except by the . most venturesome. After the Jefferson purchase, the lower river markets commenced to improve and the farmers of Dearborn county began to prosper correspondingly. The foundations of many a prosperous farmer's fortune of the twenties, thirties and forties were built on the New Orleans and coast markets, where high prices would often be obtained for their produce.

EARLY MARKET CONDITIONS.

Hogs and cattle were sometimes driven on foot over the mountains to the sea-coast cities, where they found a precarious market. Corn had no market price except in trade. Then it was estimated to be worth about ten cents per bushel. Wheat brought thirty to thirty-five cents; hay. a nominal market, at three to four dollars per ton : pork, one to two dollars per hundred. while potatoes, turnips, eggs and butter were scarcely valued sufficiently to put a market value on them. Everyone. either in town or country. had his own garden or truck patch, and vegetables were never thought of as saleable.

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Fruits were equally unmarketable. The new country had no pests to destroy the fruit or the trees, so that the yield was abundant and the quality fine. Neighbors who had none were welcome to pick what they wanted. Cherries were abundant. Apples, of good varieties, equally as fine flavored as those of the present day, were abundant. The hill country seemed to be especially adapted for apples and every farmer, as soon as he could, would have an orchard. As the lower river markets grew better, the apples found a profit- able market from the big planters of the sugar-cane country. It was not long until potatoes and onions were in demand. Hay, too, was wanted, because the plantations in the delta country were subject to overflow every year and hay could not be raised. The attention of the sugar-producing planters was concentrated on that one article, and they were dependent on the Ohio river country for all their food stuffs and the subsistence of their stock. On ac- count of the overflow, levees along the Mississippi being then in their infancy, the planters would lay in very little provender ahead and the flatboatman who found himself in the lower Mississippi, with the upper rivers frozen so as to stop navigation, reaped a golden harvest with his load of produce.

A LAND OF PLENTY.

The Dearborn county farmer of those pioneer days lived well. In the winter. his cellar was stocked with everything in the vegetable and fruit line. His barns were overflowing with food for his stock. His smoke house was well supplied with finely-cured hams and bacon. It was a land of plenty, where famine was never known. Indeed, if it is considered worth- while to speak of it, from the time of the first settlers to the present day the fields and farms of the Dearborn county agriculturist have never failed to produce food in more than sufficient abundance to satisfy the population, and furnished a surplus for others.

PIONEER FARMING CONDITIONS.

Agriculture was in its infancy. Implements were crude and labor-sav- ing machinery was unknown. Even in older and better-cultivated parts of the United States, farming was carried on in a crude way. Farm machinery consisted of a plow or two, a couple of scythes and a few sickles, hoes and forks. Possibly the farm tools of the largest farmer in the county in the twenties would not, at public sale, bring more than one hundred dollars.

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Wagons soon became plentiful. Corn cultivating was done with a single shovel plow. The soil was so rich with loam that a harrow was seldom used. The wheat was cut with a sickle; the potatoes, dug with a pronged hook; the hay, cut with a scythe and raked by hand rakes, then stacked. The corn was frequently jerked off, shuck and all, and afterwards shucked by calling in the neighbors and making it a social affair. In the Miami and creek bottoms, corn has been and is now grown as the major product. On the higher bottoms, wheat grows well and in the last few years alfalfa has become a profitable crop. On the hillsides along the creeks and river fronts, the ground is mostly given over to pasture, but is very rich and productive, the grave danger being, however, that the fierce storms of summer will carry off the soil should it be broken up and planted in corn or other farm products requiring cultivation. In the earlier years farmers in the Miami bottoms fed much stock. It was common for them to load a boat with stock and corn and float to the lower river. By the time the market was reached the stock was well fattened, ready for selling. Hogs were raised along the Big Miami and the creek valleys in great numbers, and a ready market was found in Lawrenceburg, where were a number of energetic and wide-awake business men, who were packing pork in a large way. When the Whitewater canal was completed to Lawrenceburg it was found to be a great boon to the farmers along the Miami bottoms. They had water abundant, running right in front of their barnyards, and a ditch was generally constructed, carrying it under the roadway to a pond, where the stock could be furnished with fresh running water the year through. These paved water holes or reser- voirs can yet be seen at nearly every barnyard along the highway paralleling the old canal basin.

EARLY CROPS.

On the uplands, in the early history of the country, it was soon found that a good market for timothy hay was to be obtained down the Mississippi river. While the soil was new and strong, the tablelands of the county proved 10 be fine for growing timothy hay. The farms were soon teeming with fields of timothy and the inventive genius of the age was aroused to find some way to market the hay. Numerous kinds of hay presses were constructed. from the old screw press, where the hay was tramped by man and then made into compact bales, to the beater or Mormon press, which pounded the hay and packed it into bales weighing some three hundred and fifty to four hun- dred pounds. The raising of timothy became, for several decades, the prin-

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cipal industry of the hill farmers. The roads leading to Aurora and Law- renceburg in the fall and winter months would be thronged with farmers' wagons, hauling their bales to town, where it would be loaded into flatboats and taken south. During the winter months, when the Ohio would be at flood stage, it was a common thing for the flatboats to be cordelled up the creeks and loaded Flatboats have been loaded up Tanner's creek as far as Cambridge and up Laughery to the county line. By this means the nearby farmers were saved a long haul.

But it was found, after long years of this style of farming, that the ground was losing its original fertility and a change was necessary. This has resulted in a system of rotation in crops, that has increased the fertility to such an extent that the farms along the principal highways today show to be in much better condition than some twenty or thirty years ago. In the last decade. alfalfa has become a profitable crop, and one that restores the soil to its original fertility.

Several creameries have in the past decade been established in the county, and these have encouraged the growing of alfalfa and the raising of cattle. The result has been to increase the value of the farming lands in that vicinity and to better the land. In the vicinity of Bright, Logan and Kelso, some attention is being paid to small fruits, with much success. There is no better land for the growing of apples. peaches and other fruits than the uplands of Dearborn county. In early years much attention was paid to planting, letting nature do the rest. That was well enough when such pests as San Jose scale were unknown, but as these parasites became more numerous, the orchards gradually went to decay. Of recent years attention has been given in some localities to using the modern methods of caring for the trees and fruit. and it has been very successful. Orchards that have been sprayed and property cared for have yielded fruit equal to the best of pioneer days. In time. the upland farmer will probably get back to more apples and small fruits.

HOGS.

In pioneer times, raising of cattle and hogs was one of the most popular and profitable methods of farming. Pork packing was one of the great industries of the two towns of Aurora and Lawrenceburg. A good market could always be found for the finished product at New Orleans or in the bayous, and flatboats loaded with pork, were common. The swine of the early pioneer was not as fine a looking animal as the highbred Berkshires,

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Chester Whites or Durocs of today. They were generally small and with long bristles on the back, with a good long snout to aid them in rooting for food. Little attention was paid to them. They were gathered up and branded with the owner's brand and let go until "round-up time" in the late fall. A two-hundred-pound hog would mean that the animal was about two years of age. These woods-grown hogs, fed on mast, with a touch of corn at fat- tening time, it is said produced much sweeter meat than the modern high- bred and quick-grown variety. Possibly that is true. But it is more possible that some allowance should be made for the distance in time, since woods hogs were common.

CATTLE.

Cattle, too, were smaller. When W. S. Durbin ( father of ex-Governor Winfield T. Durbin), in 1832, advertised that he was going to butcher a one thousand two hundred-pound bullock and offer it in the market house, it meant he had something unusual. As the years sped on, the wide-awake farm- ers of the county began to find that it was a good investment to breed better stock and the old woodser, with his long bristles and fighting proclivities, gave way gradually to the contented porker of the more quiet kind. The wide- horned steer or cow, with big neck, small hips and loins, has been relegated to the dim past and given place to the gentle, mild-eyed Shorthorn, Alderney or Holstein. Since creameries have been erected, the attention of the farmers in these localities has been drawn more and more to the value of good stock and of a kind that produces an abundance of rich milk. Butter-making is a source of income with many farmers, who find a ready market, at good prices, in the towns nearby. In the pioneer days, prices were so low for the surplus farm products that it was scarcely worth producing. Butter, at from ten to twelve cents per pound, and eggs, at three to five cents per dozen, represented much work for a small amount of money.

HORSES.

Dearborn county has always had good horses. The settlers brought with them the sturdy stock from the Eastern states, which was as good as the best at that time. As the demand for larger horses increased, the breeders have kept abreast of the times and today the county has an abundance of the best strains. The heavy draft horse is now much sought after on the farm on account of its ability to draw the plow or the heavily-loaded wagon. For (28)

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road travel, automobiles are rapidly taking the place of the slow-going horse, just as the horse took the place of the ox and, it may be not many years hence when machinery will do much more of the farm work than now and the horse, as a means of furnishing power for the farmer, will practically be a thing of the past.

COUNTY FAIRS.

The agricultural fairs as held in the years past, accomplished much in im- proving the stock of the county and stimulating the farmer to better results in farming. The first Dearborn County Agricultural Society was organized on April 10, 1852. The first officers were, Seth Platt, president ; Gershom Dunn and John D. Johnson, vice-presidents, and Francis Worley, secretary. The first annual fair was held at, or near Manchester, on the Mark McCracken farm, then owned by William H. Baker, October 27, 28 and 29, 1852. The society at that time numbered one hundred and twenty-five members.

The statement of the receipts and expenditures of this, the first, fair does not compare very favorably with those of the present day and, as given by its secretary, Mr. Worley, was as follows:

Received from fees of members $117.00

Received from county . 60.00

Received from premium donated 13.00

Received from proceeds of fair

71.75

Total

$261.75

Paid in premiums $ 83.00

Paid for printing.

8.00

Paid for contingent expenses of fair 11.45

Paid for books and stationery 11.08

Total

$113.53

Balance in treasury $148.22

In 1856 the Dearborn county fair commenced at Aurora. The society had about nine acres leased for five years. In 1858 they had six hundred members. In 1869 it was again reorganized under the name of the South-

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eastern Indiana Agricultural Society, with a stock company in charge. The first fair was held on September 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, 1869. The receipts were the first year, two thousand two hundred and ten dollars and ten cents, and the expenses, including amount expended on grounds, two thousand two hun- dred and thirteen dollars. This association continued to hold a successful fair until about 1880, when it quit.

The Lawrenceburg Agricultural Association was organized in 1879, and has been kept up continuously ever since, with more or less success. It has a fine half-mile track and a covered grandstand that will hold three thousand people. It has had losses from fire and flood, but has kept going for the past thirty-five years and today is solvent and prosperous.

PIONEER CONDITIONS.

The farmer of today can scarcely realize the trials of the pioneers in clear- ing the land and preparing the ground for the seed. The stumps and brush, logs and roots are little known in these days of riding plows, two-horse culti- vators, reapers. self-feeding threshers, with stackers attached, mowers and numerous other labor-saving devices, besides the smooth highway and the fast freight to Eastern points, with the great steamships to carry his products to all parts of the world. Division of labor has changed the current of human endeavor. Timber was plentiful in the pioneer times. The desire of the first settler was to clear the timber from the ground, with the least possible labor. The giant oaks and hickory furnished the best of material for wagon timber. It took a short time for the pioneer to find this out and to devise means to convert the timber into vehicles. The early blacksmith generally had, in the same building, the wagonmaker. Until Civil War times, wagons were made almost exclusively at home. The demand for army wagons during that ter- rific struggle was greater than could be filled by unorganized effort, and hence the factory. These have gradually increased their output, until now country wagonmakers are forgotten. The same is true of the shoemakers, for the manufacture of shoes has become almost altogether a factory affair. It is only the shoemaker who can cater to some particular trade, that can exist at the business. The old-time sickle, and its successor, the cradle, have both been thrown aside for the self-binder. The horse fork and the hay loader have superseded hand pitching and the hand rake. Modern methods have been introduced, and are being introduced more and more every day, so that the farmer of the future will enjoy his work and the profession will be eagerly sought as one of the most desirable of all vocations.

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EARLY HARVEST OPERATIONS.

An account by an early newspaper writer of the pioneer methods of cut- ting grain with a sickle is interesting. He says: "My first experience in har- vesting was about 1825. Then about twenty-five or more men would work together. The reapers went to the farm house, where they were to harvest, and there they would find a lunch set out, consisting of milk, bread and butter, cold sliced ham, onions, etc., then a tansy bitters, after which they get to the field. There a leader is chosen, generally by the owner of the field. The leader commences; he cuts a space about four feet wide and two feet deep; the second falls in, and cuts the same space, and so on until all are cutting. They cut to the middle of the field and then, if the leader is ac- quainted with all his men, he will stand and rest for from one to five minutes; if not, he will inspect the work of every one thoroughly, and commend or reprimand as he thinks the reapers deserve. After the brief rest is over, the leader gives the word to go ahead, and they cut to the end. If the grain should be very wet, they let it lie in grips until it is dry enough to bind. They keep on cutting until about eight o'clock, when they eat breakfast. About nine o'clock they commence again. Dinner is served at twelve o'clock. About four o'clock, a piece, with coffee, some of the reapers putting a good dram in their coffee. Early in the morning the boys were allowed to take their sickles and gouge for their fathers-that is, to go to the far end of their through, and reap until they would meet them, but as soon as the dew was off they had to hang up their sickles. Some would be detailed to carry water, while others were placed under some old man and made to gather sheaves. All this seems very slow work as compared with that of the reaping machine, but the reapers could have done nothing in those days, for the stumps stood as thick as the shocks.

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History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 41

Author: Archibald Shaw Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1123

Author: Archibald Shaw
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1123